You are probably familiar with persistent identifiers such as the DOI (Digital Object Identifier) for publications and datasets. A persistent identifier (PID) is a globally unique and long-lasting reference assigned to an entity, such as a person (you!), an organisation, or a research output (e.g., publications, datasets, software).
Whatever entity it refers to, the primary purpose of a PID is to enable unambiguous identification, reliable attribution, and long-term access. In most cases, a PID resolves to a structured metadata record describing the entity, rather than directly to the object itself.

This guide focuses on PIDs that identify individuals, such as ORCID (Open Researcher and Contributor ID), ISNI (International Standard Name Identifier), and Web of Science Researcher Profiles.

Here are some examples:

Why would get a person indentifier?

There are many reasons to register and use a personal identifier:

• to uniquely distinguish yourself from others with the same or a similar name (name disambiguation);
• to enable others - and systems - to reliably discover and aggregate your research outputs, affiliations, and contributions;
• to connect different versions of your name under a single persistent identity, e.g., Jonathan Brown, J. Brown, or Jon Brown;
• to ensure your research record remains linked to you when changing institutions or roles;
• to access and integrate with research services and infrastructures (e.g., funding systems, repositories such as Zenodo, ResearchFish, etc.);
• to support interoperability and automated linking across the research ecosystem (e.g., connecting researchers, outputs, organisations, and grants).

How can identifiers link your work to you?

Persistent identifiers connect you with your research outputs and activities, enabling a comprehensive and reliable digital representation of your research profile. Through a person identifier, you can link additional information about yourself, including affiliations, qualifications, honours and distinctions, service, memberships, funding, and other scholarly contributions (e.g. blog posts), effectively building a structured and reusable record of your academic activities.
Other organisations and systems can, in turn, use your identifier to link outputs and related information to you across platforms, supporting consistent attribution and discovery.

Some person identifiers are assigned by registration agencies, while others are self-registered. In this guide, we focus on ORCID, an open and researcher-controlled PID that you create and manage yourself. You also control visibility and permissions. ORCID iDs are interoperable, allowing information to be exchanged and synchronised across systems.

How do ORCID iDs work?

ORCID provides a globally unique and persistent identifier (iD) designed specifically for the research community, enabling trusted connections between you, your research outputs, and your affiliations. You can register for an ORCID iD here: https://orcid.org/register. Registration requires only your name and a valid email address.

However, to maximise its value, it is recommended that you enrich your ORCID record with publications, datasets, and other works, as well as information on education, employment, and funding. You may also grant trusted organisations permission to update your record on your behalf. For more information, see: Add works to your ORCID record.

Your organisation may use a Current Research Information System (CRIS), where research staff register outputs and activities. If your CRIS is integrated with ORCID, adding your ORCID iD to your profile enables automatic exchange of information between systems. For example, outputs recorded in the CRIS can be pushed to your ORCID record, and outputs published with your ORCID iD (e.g. journal articles or datasets) can be automatically linked back to your profile.

ORCID provides a unique, reliable identifier (an iD) designed specifically for the research community, which connects you with your research contributions and affiliations. You can register for an ORCID iD here https://orcid.org/register. Registration only requires one version of your name and a valid email address. However, we recommend that you also add any publications or other works, as well as relevant education, employment and funding. For more information about how to do this, or to give your organisations permission to do so on your behalf,  please see: Add works to your ORCID record.

Your organisation probably has a so-called CRIS (Current Research Information System), where research staff register their output and activities. If your CRIS is integrated with ORCID, then when you add your ORCID iD to your CRIS profile, the output linked to you can automatically be added to the ORCID profile. And, if you use your ORCID iD when publishing a journal article and datasets, those outputs can also be automatically added to your ORCID profile.

What does it look like?

The green ORCID icon  (as shown in this image) indicates that a researcher has used their iD. It is typically linked to the researcher’s ORCID record, where you can see any publicly available information about them:

You’re part of global research ecosystem

The ORCID iD not only links your research outputs to you, but also connects your activities across the research infrastructure ecosystem. Here’s a blog post that demonstrates this sort of connected research in action: "Connected Research!"
Initiatives such as the FREYA and OpenAIRE projects and the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) build a rapidly evolving, interconnected network of publications, data, software, researchers, research funders and grants. PIDs are key enablers for linking all this information.
The resources that are identified with PIDs and the relationships between them can be described in so-called PID Graphs or Research Graphs. These are machine-actionable networks that support discovery, attribution, and reuse.
The PID Graph showcase that all this can be connected using a personal identifier:

FREYA’s PID Graph - all this can be connected using a personal identifier

Costs: Free to register, and 5 minutes per month to keep your output up to date in the systems you use

Getting and using an iD is free for researchers - ORCID is supported by dues from its member organisations (e.g. universities, funders, publishers).
And, while five minutes may be an understatement, once you’ve set up your ORCID record, keeping it up to date is very easy through automated updates and system integrations. Simply use your ORCID iD whenever you’re prompted to do so, grant permission to trusted organisations (funders, publishers, institutions) to update your ORCID record, and periodically check for other updates using ORCID’s search and link wizards.
For practical guidance, see ORCID’s official documentation on managing and updating your ORCID record.

Integration Guide - ORCID

Did you know?
Persistent Identifiers (PIDs) help fight link rot, that frustrating moment when a link leads to a “page not found” error. Studies show that a large share of scholarly references change or disappear over time, but PIDs ensure that research outputs remain reliably accessible.
Source: Klein, M., Van de Sompel, H., Sanderson, R., et al. (2014). Scholarly Context Adrift: Three out of Four URI References Lead to Changed Content. PLOS ONE, 9(12), e115253. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0167475

Did you know?
Persistent Identifiers (PIDs) don’t just prevent broken links, they also protect against content drift.
That’s when a link still works, but the content has changed from what was originally cited. PIDs help ensure that an identifier always points to the exact object it was first assigned to, preserving the integrity of research references.
Source: Klein, M., Van de Sompel, H., Sanderson, R., et al. (2014). Scholarly Context Adrift: Three out of Four URI References Lead to Changed Content. PLOS ONE, 9(12), e115253. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0167475

Did you know?
Persistent Identifiers (PIDs) act like the glue of the research ecosystem.
They connect researchers, institutions, grants, datasets, and publications, making citation easier and enabling powerful research graphs that show how everything is linked together.DOI: 10.2777/1524

• FREYA is all about PIDs: https://www.project-freya.eu/en  
• ORCID: https://orcid.org/
• OpenAIRE Research Graph: Supporting Research Intelligence through Open Data
• OpenAIRE Research Graph: Discovery and Monitoring of Open Science outputs
• Van Horik, R., Brinkman, L., van den Berk, M., & Thorpe, D. E. (2025, May 8). FAIR Research Data Management - A deeper dive into putting FAIR RDM into practice. Part 1. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15310506 
• Van Horik, R., Brinkman, L., van den Berk, M., & Thorpe, D. E. (2025, May 8). FAIR Research Data Management - A deeper dive into putting FAIR RDM into practice. Part 2. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15310556 
• Thorpe, D. E., van den Berk, M., van Horik, R., Brinkman, L., Macan, B., Žugaj, M., & Jurković, S. (2026). FAIR Research Data Management Training Materials Ready for Reuse. 20th International Digital Curation Conference (IDCC26), Zagreb, Croatia. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18834884

This guide was co-authored with Frances Madden (FREYA, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5432-6116) and Alice Meadows (ORCID, https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2161-3781).

Last update: March 2026